In This World There Is Real and Make Believe
by Chro Mephisto
Summary: When Sora finds himself drifting into nothingness, he makes a friend that will end up helping him in the darkest of his moments.


Title—In This World There's Real and Make Believe

Author—Chronos Mephistopheles

Fandom—The World Ends With You/Kingdom Hearts

Challenge—Self-Challenge to make an epic

Couplings/Characters—Neku Sakuraba, Sora, Kairi, Riku

Warnings/Rating—K/T, might go up as the story continues, not sure just yet.

Genre—Friendship/General/Adventure/possible romance in the future

Summary—When Sora finds himself drifting into nothingness, he makes a friend that will end up helping him in the darkest of his moments.

Chapter Summary—Sora receives a pen pal with whom he can relate.

Notes—This story takes place after Kingdom Hearts II, before the video where the trio receive a letter from King Mickey. For The World Ends With You, it'll become apparent as the story goes on when this occurs. Please let me know what you think of the characterization or idea.

**In This World There is Real and Make Believe**

**An Introduction**

Sora sat slumped over his desk at Destiny Island High and garbed in said school's uniform, with a pen sticking out of his mouth as he stared blankly out the window. The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. His boring old language professor kept shuffling papers on the desk, occasionally glancing up to make sure no one was passing notes or anything of the sort. After what seemed an extended period of time, the man cleared his throat and Sora reluctantly sat 'properly' in his seat.

The dull, monotonous tone of voice had Sora wanting to tear his hair out of his head. "The school district has a requirement for all students in freshman English to write letters to a pen pal." There was a collective groaning amongst the class. "The pen pals are randomly chosen from our partner school Fate Island High." The athletes seemed to practically growl at this point, as FIH was the rival school. Each year the schools from the district have tournaments amongst the nearest schools, but DIH only cared about defeating FIH, as it was rumored they felt the same. "You are required to be amiable with your pen pal, but honest as well. We will be reading over the letters to be sure there isn't anything inappropriate being said between the two of you."

He peered over his glasses at everyone, and Sora just slumped over once more. There was no point in paying attention, he just had to make friends with his pen pal and that'd be it. Not too difficult, nothing too exhausting. And it would be easy credit for the otherwise overwhelming class. There was a faint whistle, soft and probably unnoticeable by anyone else, and Sora turned his gaze in the direction. It was Kairi and she was giving him that questioning look.

The Keyblade wielder had found himself slowly slipping into the wasting feeling of ennui after returning home. After constantly being on one's guard, after travelling nonstop, after barely getting four hours of sleep a night, after fighting for one's life, after constant movement and action, Destiny Islands was something of a bore. He would sneak off to the Secret Place and stare at the door to the heart of the world, letting the sound of nature surround him and distract him from the feeling of utter boredom. His homework was always finished on time, his grades were higher than they were before the cross-world crisis, and his procrastination had dropped completely. Sora was the perfect student.

But it didn't stop the boredom. It didn't stop the memories of nightmares that replayed in his mind at night. It didn't stop him from staying up for four days straight just so he could get a good night's rest at least once a week.

Sora gave her a small wave and a smile, trying to reassure Kairi of his 'being alright', even when everyone seemed to know he was anything but.

Even Riku seemed to be alright. He was enjoying himself, taking in the feeling of being with his family, of hanging out with the others, of not worrying about the Darkness anymore. Sure he still had moments of regret, and Sora could always find him sitting on the Paopu tree staring wistfully out at the horizon, but Riku was recovering. He was readapting to their homeland.

Sora wasn't.

His musings were cut off when the teacher handed him an envelope with his name on it. Sora flipped it over and pulled out a letter written on the back of an empty music sheet. He blinked at the script that wasn't completely illegible and made out the name of his pen pal.

_Neku Sakuraba_

He couldn't help but find it interesting, knowing what he did about the kanji of Sakuraba's name, that he would use a music sheet of all things to write his letter. He read it over again, the handwriting becoming easier to read the more and more he looked over it. Sakuraba was introducing himself, using an informal tone. Unfortunately there wasn't enough of a letter to make out if Sakuraba was just friendly or if he didn't believe in formality.

Sora glanced up at the clock, noting there was a little over thirty minutes left in class, and many of his classmates had finished responding to their pen pal. He rummaged through his bag, looking for a piece of paper to use other than the notebook paper he normally had in front of him. Those pieces had the ripped up edges and weren't nice enough for a first impression. Normally Sora would have grabbed whatever he had available, but his heart was urging him to do something more than usual.

His fingers brushed against some rolled paper and he pulled it out. It was some old parchment paper that he had borrowed from Kairi, back when he was contemplating contacting the King and asking him if he needed any more assistance. When he went to try and compose it, the words wouldn't come to him, and what did sounded like the whining of a preteen who was desperate. He was more than that. He traced the edges with his calloused fingertips, before deciding this was the paper he was going to use.

It took a couple random items to keep the parchment from rolling back up, and he let himself get lost in introducing himself to Sakuraba. He wrote his name and his age, he introduced himself as a teen interested in self-defense and believing in oneself. He wrote about how he always tried to follow his heart and how he was separated from his friends for what seemed like eons. He wrote about all the different places he got to see, but how lonely he felt because his friends weren't there with him. He was quickly running out of space, so he closed it up with questions for Sakuraba: what hobbies did he have? Did he have a favorite class? What about friends? And then signed his name at the bottom.

He let the parchment roll up, and scribbled Sakuraba's name across the edge of it, so they knew who to give it to. As the bell rang, Sora packed up his items and handed the letter to the teacher. It was the only one that looked unique, original. Everyone else used notebook paper. Everyone else used black pen. Everyone else appeared to have done the basic introduction, not wanting to reveal too much of themselves to this person they didn't know. Sora shrugged and left the room.

Kairi stood in the hall, waiting for him with a small but worried smile on her face. "Who did you get, Sora?"

"A Neku Sakuraba," Sora's voice was almost raspy, and he realized it was the first time he'd spoken for the day. Was he really forgetting to converse with friends and family? "What about you? Who'd you get?"

The two began their trek down the hall to the entrance of the school, where Riku usually awaited them. Kairi began explaining about her pen pal, some boy who was interested in art and drawing, and how she knew that they were probably going to get along really well when he found out Kairi had grown fond of drawing. The two of them at least had something to bond or converse over. All Sora knew was that Neku probably liked music, possibly even wrote some, judging by the fact he used a music sheet to write his letter.

Riku was standing at the gate, just as he did every other day, surrounded by a few fangirls. He greeted them with a small wave, his aqua eyes all glinting brightly in the sunlight. As always he looked impeccable in the school uniform, whereas Sora kept it just formal enough that he wouldn't get sent into detention, his tie usually undone in some way, the sleeves rolled up. As Sora and Kairi got closer, the girls seemed to step away from Riku, to allow them room to converse with their friend while remaining close enough to overhear everything going on.

Riku reached out and messed Sora's hair playfully. "How was class?"

"Fine, yours?" Kairi replied, and the two quickly got caught up in a conversation about homework that was due later in the week and their plans for that weekend. Sora followed dutifully along, his head down as he went back to thinking about Sakuraba's letter. It was a basic letter, introduction and such, and yet something about it called to him.

Sora pulled it out of his pocket and looked it over once again. The handwriting style was definitely different in comparison to what he was used to, the flow of words almost seemed jumbled, as if Sakuraba didn't have a complete handle on the language, but the word choice countered that idea. He obviously knew what he was saying, and had no problem doing so.

He felt a presence in his heart awakening and taking a glance over the letter through his eyes. _"Yes,"_ Roxas's voice echoed inside his head, _"That letter is not normal, but I can't place what it is exactly."_

"It's worrying me for some reason," Sora murmured, folding the letter back up and slipping it into his back pocket.

He felt Roxas's nod, and felt comforted that his Nobody agreed with him. _"I'll try to remember what I learned from being with the Organization. Maybe there's something in those random teachings and lectures that can help us."_

"Thank you."

Roxas's smile lifted his heart somewhat, and Sora was able to walk more relaxed and more focused. He slipped away from the still conversing Riku and Kairi, climbing over the small fence that surrounded his yard and entered his home. He stepped into his room long enough to drop his backpack on the ground before stepping inside the kitchen. He found a plate of cookies sitting on the counter, with a small note from his mom. He glanced it over, took a few of the cookies, placed them in a baggy and then pocketed them.

Still in his school uniform, he stepped out into the backyard, and climbed the fence. On the other side was the ocean, and the dock. His boat was there, waiting for him like always, and he took comfort in it. No matter how he felt on the inside, there were things that wouldn't change, and those things he could draw upon.

Sora rowed out to Play Island, walking to the somewhat more secluded section of the island before allowing himself to flop in the sand. He knew his mother would end up complaining when she would do his laundry, but he wanted nothing else right now. The sun was shining bright in the sky, no signs of clouds except on the distant horizon. He ended up eating the cookies as he lay there on the sand, eyes closed, just sucking up the sun.

"Sora!" The voice came from behind him, and he reluctantly turned to see Riku standing there. He too was still in his uniform, and judging by the position of the sun Sora had to have been napping there for a few hours. The older peered at him curiously and sighed. "So this is where you disappeared to."

He shrugged, falling back onto the sand. "I like it here. It's peaceful."

"You're not… regretting saving Kingdom Hearts, are you?"

Sora immediately jumped to his feet, staring at Riku in shock. "What are you talking about?"

Riku sighed again, crossing his arms and staring at Sora in a way that made him feel like his soul was being examined. "You keep moping about. You're not happy at all to be home. The whole time you were helping Kingdom Hearts and the King you wanted to come back home. And now that you are, you… you aren't shining anymore."

Sora tilted his head to the side, much like a puppy. "You confuse me. I have no idea what you are talking about." He crossed his arms as he slipped into thought. "I'm trying to adjust, I'm sorry I haven't readjusted as quickly as you."

"It's been almost half a year."

"And I was travelling for much longer than that. Can you blame me?" Sora couldn't help but feel indignant. "They are my emotions, don't tell me how or what I should be doing." Sora huffed and brushed past Riku, heading to his boat. "When I feel adjusted, you and Kairi will be the first to know."

He made it all the way to the dock, untied his boat, and had started to row back home when Riku's voice drifted over to him. "Don't succumb to the darkness like me, Sora."

Sora held back a retort that he knew would only worsen the current relations between them, but it didn't stop Roxas from practically cursing out the other teen. _"He isn't you, obviously. Stupid man. He's Sora!"_ The brown-haired boy shook his head and continued on rowing back home. He had homework to do.

The following Tuesday, Sora received a reply to his letter. Once again it was on a blank music sheet and Sakuraba's script was still difficult to read, but its content was much more meaningful this time. Sakuraba admitted he listened to music every chance he had. He named off a few different artists that were his favorites, that art was his favorite class since he could listen to his music all he wanted, and followed it up with a statement of not having any actual friends. Sakuraba continued onto three more pages, telling Sora about CAT, a secretive graffiti artist that decorated the streets, and the way his parents didn't seem to acknowledge him. He admitted he was jealous of all the travelling Sora had done, whether it was with his friends or not. Sakuraba admitted to being stuck in an unrelenting life that he just wanted to get away from. People annoyed him; no one was worth the air they breathed.

But despite this, Sora felt like he could relate. The both of them were stuck in a rut and had no visible way to get out of it. Where Sakuraba felt like there was no one to relate to, Sora felt like there was just nothing for him here. 'Maybe…' Sora pondered, staring at the letter in front of him, 'Maybe we can be something like that for each other… something new to keep us sane…'

He didn't have any more of that parchment paper, so he requested that he could give his letter to the teacher during the next class. The teacher agreed and Sora found himself rushing off to the nearest store, and bought a package of parchment paper for his replies to Sakuraba. Once home, he placed the package on his desk and pulled out both letters, reading them over again and again, as if trying to memorize them.

Sakuraba called him by his last name, 'Hikari', at the beginning of his letter, a fact Sora felt uncomfortable with. No one ever called him by his last name. Grabbing his blue pen, Sora wrote his reply.

With Roxas occasionally placing his own two-cents, the letter was finished quickly. Sora told Sakuraba about how he thought he could relate to him, and understood a majority of his problems with people because his friend used to be the same way. He told him about his plans to look up the musicians he had mentioned and see what he thinks about them himself, admitting he didn't listen to very much music but he was open to ideas. He told Sakuraba about the last time he truly conversed with Riku, and how the older was worried about his new world weary attitude. He confessed that maybe what they needed was something new, something different to get rid of this feeling of overwhelming boredom. He signed the letter with, "Call me Sora, everyone calls me Sora."

Sora gave the letter to his teacher the next day in class, and the week continued on like usual. Kairi and Riku continued walking with him, talking about anything that came to mind, occasionally asking Sora for his opinion, but let him interject whenever he felt like it. However there now felt like there was this wall rising between Sora and the other two. The comfortable feeling he had with his childhood friends was disappearing and Sora didn't know how to remove it.

He spent more time thinking and wondering about the other worlds, contemplating trying to send a letter to Leon and the others in Radiant Garden. Roxas would occasionally tell him stories about his time in the Organization and the things he remembered learning from them. But it seemed it all was just something to distract him until Sakuraba's next letter arrived.

Instead of the letter being on a blank sheet of music, the back was covered with music notes, appearing to be some orchestral tune. After peering at the numerous notes and lines, Sora managed to find the title of _Danse Macabre_. Sakuraba's letter was mostly a rant on the current school work, how people seemed even more annoying than usual but he was managing to deal with it somehow. He wrote that Sora should look the musicians up as soon as possible, because he was interested on what songs Sora preferred. Sakuraba also mentioned that if Sora's friend was having an issue with Sora's new attitude, maybe he was fond of Sora, and that's why he's so overly protective of his actions. He admitted something new would be a welcome change, and that he was beginning to look forward to the letters he was receiving.

Sakuraba closed his letter with, "If I'm going to call you Sora, then it's only fair you call me Neku."


End file.
